Surry Hills: Devon Cafe

76 Devonshire St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9211 8777
http://www.devoncafe.com.au/

The Devon Cafe, really has some outstanding food.

For a weekday lunchtime it was pretty packed. Mainly full of uni-students and young professionals.

We ordered:

• Breakfast with the Sakuma’s – miso grilled king salmon, smoked eel croquette, 63 degree egg, radish petit salad & kewpi mayonnaise ($24.5)
• Bruschetta – roasted eggplant, hummus, labne, za’atar, coriander, fried onion on Turkish bread ($11)

 

The breakfast with Sakuma has no faults. Beautifully cooked, melt in your mouth salmon, the eel croquette is perfect – creamy mash potato with a crunchy coating, and the smokey flavour really comes through. The yolk of the 63 degree egg just oozeys out and becomes a sauce that combines all the elements on the plate so well together along with the spices which resembles dukkha.

The Bruschetta is so full-flavoured. I loved the eggplant and hummus combination, the chickpeas are fried and have a crunchy, light, hollow texture. Along with the hazelnuts and fried onion, it make every mouthful moreish and worth going in for another bite.

The brownie at the end was a very was a lovely guesture. Basically there was a trainee wait-staffer who meant well, but obviously kept getting a lot of things not-quite-right…on more than just a couple of occasions and overcharged us at the end. So with the refund for the overcharged amount, came a brownie in a small brown paper bag 🙂

Food: 8.5/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 31/40
$-$$

Marrickville: Henson Gastro Pub

Henson Gastro Pub
91 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204
(02) 9569 5858
http://www.thehenson.com.au/

The Henson was a great find. It’s fun, open and family friendly. There is a very welcoming atmosphere when you enter into this place. There were plenty of people of all ages here. Retirees, mothers groups with babies and young children who could play in the back section with a cubby-house and toys, and also young professionals on their lunch break.

I really loved the shelves of sauces, spices and cutlery. There were five different salts you could spoon into little plastic containers to put on your food or particularly on fries I think.

We ordered:

• Soft shell CRAB BURGER, old bay coleslaw, ice-berg, sriarcha & chips ($16)
• Smoked corn, celeriac, silverbeet & habernero chowder hot sourdough ($13)
• Rhubarb, quince & cider + oat crumble, buttermilk ice-cream ($10)

The soft shell crab burger. Delicious, big thumbs up. The soft shell crab was perfectly cooked, crispy, tender and succulent. Henson believe in and use free range, organic, hormone and chemical free meat & poultry & sustainable seafood. The coleslaw was refreshing and well balanced. The fries were well cooked and moreish. I really want to try the Karaage CHICKEN BURGER, pickled greens, charred onion, miso mayo & chips; and the PORK BELLY BURGER, pickles ice-berg, kimchi kewpie, jalapeno, mustard & chips next time around.

On to the ‘chowder’. I thought it was a full-hearty and warming soup. I probably would have labelled it a soup more than a chowder.

It had good smokey and acidic flavours coming through. I thought it wasn’t that moreish a dish though. I still was left feeling I wish there was something extra that made me go back for another spoonful. The bread was fresh and warm and the butter was of high quality and quite delicious.

Last but not least, the dessert. I really loved the buttermilk ice-cream. It is not thick and creamy, it is more like a sorbet consistency, but I still really loved it against the crunchy oats and tangy/sour taste of the rhubarb and quince. Well done.

Food: 8/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 30.5/40
$$

Burwood: Momiji

96A Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
(02) 9744 2977

Momiji… what can I say.

This place unfortunately has potential, but doesn’t seem to have the finesse to execute it.

It is walking distance from the Burwood westfield shopping center.

I ordered the set ramen – which comes with a half egg, pork, some bamboo shoots, sea weed and beansprouts, and karaage chicken on the side. Now the broth is actually surprisingly good. Not the best I have had in Sydney, but no doubt quite competent, peppery and bags of hearty flavour to it. It then gets let down by the limp, soggy almost hospital food-like nature of the ramen. It is pretty bad and soft to the ‘nth’ degree. (I tried to give positive feedback to the owner, saying that the broth was great, but the noodles were a bit soft, and she seemed to not understand English and thought I meant ‘salty’ instead of ‘soft/soggy’ ramen. oh well – translation fail somewhere probably by me).

On the plus side the chicken was okay.

Next we ordered the tempura vegetable fritter on rice. The Vegetable fritter again had flavour and looked like it was cooked quite decently, then I am not sure what happened, whether they covered it in the mean-time whilst they were preparing the other main, but it had that steamed soggines to it… which again for a tempura advertised dish… is not great.

The third dish we ordered was the soft shell crab. No complaints with this dish. Competent. Not the best soft shell crab I’ve had… but not bad. Crispy, the crab was fresh and the sauce on top was a sweet/tangy mayonnaise. 

 

Sorry Momiji, not the worst experience I’ve had, but not the best either…

Food: 6.5/10
Value for money: 7/10
Ambience: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Overall Score: 26.5/40
$$

Burwood: Sydney Dumpling King

183E Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
(02) 9701 0055
sydneydumplingking.com.au/

I have been wanting to try this place for a while.

And yes, they do live up to their name. They have around 30 different varieties of dumplings to choose from. The most I have ever seen in any dumpling house.

I must say, sometimes I wasn’t entirely convinced about the cleanliness of the establishment, but I guess you can put it down to a down-and-dirty, no-frilled eating house.

The dumplings are everything you would expect. We choose:

• prawn, egg, chives and woodear mushrooms ($15)
• fish & corn (steamed)($12.5)
• pork & eggplant ($10 plus fried $2.5 extra) ($12.5)

Prawn, egg, chives and woodear mushrooms ($15). The wood ear mushroom adds a nice crunch and texture and the prawn pieces are fresh and succulent.

Next came the fish and corn. I was very surprised that the fish was still moist and tender and not at all overcooked. I was glad we got the steamed option. The fish is light, the sweetcorn has a juicy bite to it, and there is a hint of ginger through the filling.

Then thirdly, we ordered the pork and eggplant. I think the fried dumpling option did this one justice. The inside filling is moist and almost with an eggplant rich sauce to it. There is no crunch element to the inside filling, so I think it needed the crunch of the outside dumpling pastry to give it some texture and body. This is probably the saltiest out of the three dumplings. Very tasty.

Food: 8/10
Value for money: 8.5/10
Ambience: 6.5/10
Service: 7/10
Overall Score: 30/40
$

Newtown: Campos Coffee

193 Missenden Rd, Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 9516 3361
http://www.camposcoffee.com/

I have no idea why I did not come here sooner. Two words – Coffee Heaven.

Absolutely recommend this place. The coffee is 10/10.

I have only had the coffee mind you, regular coffee and the Belgium white chocolate ice-cream affogato. The affogato blows my mind every time. When the expresso is merged with the ice-cream it tastes like fine coffee ice-cream which still has a bitterness to it from the expresso.

The affogato honestly quite addictive, and if I could, I would be tempting to have one every day. They have a hazelnut affogato on the menu, but I have not been able to walk past the Belgium white chocolate when deciding at the counter.

Highly recommended!

Coffee: 10/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 32.5/40
$

Parramatta: Temasek

71 George St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9633 9926

Temasek – I have been here quite a number of times already. The service I have to say is a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it is okay and the wait staff are on the ball and quite quick and efficient. Sometimes the waiters and waitresses can get over-run, too busy and forgetful.

Their food though I have to say is always consistently excellent. They always deliver on this. I have noticed that they have raised their prices recently though.

The Hainanese chicken rice – is on the money. The chicken breast is so beautifully poached. Succulent, smooth and melt in your mouth. I think it even rivals Chatterbox chicken rice in Singapore, which is saying something. The chicken rice itself is great, full of flavour and the broth is just light and delicate to wash the pallet for the next mouthful.

Next on the the char kway teow, we always order it with chilli. It is pretty perfect. It has the ‘wok hey’ taste, which is the heated/slightly char taste of the high flame intensity on the wok.

 

The laksa is the also one of the best I have had in Sydney. I think the other ones that may rival this are Chinta Kechil in Double Bay and Laksa King in Melbourne. You can choose the noodles with the laksa, either thin rice noodles or thick yellow egg noodles, or a combination of both.

Last but surely not least, the mee goreng. The prawns in this dish are succulent, great creamy tomato base to the sauce. Full-flavoured and moreish.

Food: 9/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 6/10
Overall Score: 30/40
$$

Surry Hills: Rustic Pearl

415 Crown St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
0406 930 083
http://www.rusticpearl.com.au/

I visited the rustic pearl for a brunch catch up with a friend.

It is a tiny little cafe, with a two seater table we snagged in the very corner of the cafe. It then has one row of tables, and from what I can remember some outside seating.

We looked at the menu, and both decided to go for what I’m guessing was a special, as it is not featured on their website menu – “char-grilled baby lobster flesh, crushed avocado, poached organic eggs with hollandaise sauce, fresh chives, coriander and chill” ($24). I must say it was all very well done. Great balance of flavours. I have to say I think the lobster was slightly over-cooked. So it wasn’t the best I think the dish could have been. But the hollandaise sauce was great, and the coriander, chives and chilli really gave it that added fresh kick to it.  Coffee is decent (8/10).

Food: 8/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 30.5/40

Surry Hills: Suzuya (2)

210 Devonshire Street; Surry Hills
New South Wales, Australia 2010
+61 2 8933 1639

I visited Suzuya for the second time, since I enjoyed the first dining experience.

It was much similar to the first time, however I did notice the service was faster, the agedashi tofu was much better, and no glass noodles as an appetiser. I suspect now, looking back at the first time we went that the tofu was not as freshly cooked, resulting in the batter not being crisp and the tofu a bit too firm.

Again we had the Salmon and avocado sushi roll and sashimi plate for entrees:
Very enjoyable.

Mains: Katsu pork and Tempura prawns & vegetables.
Pork was just as good as the Katsu chicken.

Highly recommended!

Food: 8/10
Value for money: 9/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 32/40
$

Surry Hills: Suzuya

Surry Hills: Kurtosh

604-606 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9319 7701
http://www.kurtosh.com.au

Kürtősh, is  a pretty amazing coffee and cake place. I visited Kürtősh House No. 2 in Surry Hills. However they have 2 other locations at:

• Kürtősh House No. 1 – 20B-20C St Pauls Street, Randwick NSW 2031
• Kürtősh House No. 3 – 110 – 112 Willoughby Road
  Crows Nest NSW 2065

The ambience and decor is cute, rustic and a tad kitch-throwback.

They serve Kürtősh, pastries, slab cakes which are both chilled and room temperature, bread and a range of beverages. They are also quite generous and have taste-testing samples for patrons to try, whilst deciding on which items to purchase.

I loved the nutella (which I think was a flavour of the day) and cinnamon Kürtőshs. Having said that I think all the flavours would be quite good. There is a  wide selection to choose from.

We decided on the raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake ($4.50 per 100gs) and catastrophe flourless chocolate cake ($4.00 per 100gs). Highly recommend the catastrophe flourless cake, full-flavoured, rich, chocolatey and moist, without being too sweet.

The thing that stands out at Kürtősh is the consistently great, friendly service. With no judgement or impatience whilst you’re deciding.

The other thing we tried was the chocolate rogallach – little chocolate twist with a hint of cinnamon ($4.90 per 100gs). It wasn’t my favourite thing of the items we ordered, but competently done.

The coffee here is pretty good too (7.5/10). 

Food: 8.5/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service: 8.5/10
Overall Score: 32.5/40
$

Chatswood: Khao Pla

7/370-374 Victoria Ave, Chatswood 2067
(02) 9412 4978
http://www.facebook.com/KhaoPla

Khao Pla is a very unassuming looking restaurant. It is just outside of Chatswood Westfield Shopping Center. It is advisable to park in the shopping center if you’re driving.

(Khao Pla is closed for renovations 21 July 2014 – 11 August 2014. )

They have a range of lunch specials mon-fri around the $10 mark. This time we went for lunch on the weekend. We ordered the:

• Pad Thai, which was very well done. Good balance of flavours, and I really liked the use of uncooked beansprouts to give it a added texture and fresh crunch.
• Thai Green Curry (pork). With all the dishes you can choose vegetarian or a variety of meat options (chicken, pork, beef or prawn). I liked the pea eggplant in it, which looks like a pea, but is actually a very tiny eggplant – link to Gourmet Traveller.
• Chicken basil & chilli flat rice noodles (gai pad grapow).

I would recommend this place for a casual lunch dining experience. There is nothing too unique or special about their Thai food, it is just competently cooked.

This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for me the star attraction of Khao Pla is the dessert.

Not just any dessert, I would particularly recommend the black sticky rice, with tapioca, jack fruit, coconut jelly and milk tea ice cream ($10). It is not your usual dessert and I personally don’t normally like jackfruit, but I love this dish. The contrast of the warm, slightly salty black sticky rice, firm coconut jelly cubes, pops of small little tapioca beads and the milk tea ice-cream which is just starting to melt is a great combination. It is not too sweet. Highly recommend this.

Food: 8/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7.5/10
Overall Score: 30.5/40
$